The Grotesque Princess

Once upon a time, there was a handsome King who lived in an equally handsome kingdom. He and his queen were renowned for their exceeding good looks and bad attitudes. 

One day, an old woman knocked on the front gate of their castle.

“Please, my King,” said the old woman. “My house is wiped away by the hurricane. I’m very sick and I don’t have a place to stay for the night. Can I please sleep in the castle for one day?”

The King was beyond disgusted by the old woman’s warts and wrinkled face. He didn’t like to see her dirty feet inside his marble floors and he certainly didn’t like the way she smelled. He refused her and demanded her to go.

“Leave, you filthy old hag! I will not have your grimy old rags soiling my beautiful castle!”

The old woman was offended and revealed that she was actually a witch. From behind her back, she withdrew a wand and she hissed a terrible, awful curse:

“You have such a blackened heart, my King. You might look beautiful, but you’re as rotten as the dead. Your child, who is now inside your wife’s belly, will be the ugliest child in the world. As ugly as your heart, no less.”

Before the King could apologize, the old woman staggered out from the castle. As soon as she reached the front bridge, however, her heart died on her because of her last spell.

-

At first, the Queen wouldn’t believe at the curse. After all, she was the most beautiful woman on the kingdom, and her husband the handsomest. How could she bore the ugly child with their good genes?

But then when the baby came out, she screamed so lout the windows cracked. The midwife who helped her deliver the baby dropped dead in shock of seeing the baby’s face. The Queen and the King could only cry in despair, for they couldn’t bear the thought of actually having such an ugly creature in their ethereal kingdom.

-

The Princess grew up lonely and depressed. She had no friends because people had always been surprised and scared to see her face. The Princess always looked far from her window, which was big and covered most of her walls, because that was as far as she could taste freedom.

Since she was so lonely, the Princess grew up with a poor attitude. She never treated anyone well, because she that was not how she was treated. She never trusted anybody and she always tried to groom her hair, her body, and judged everyone by their appearance.

It was after all, how people judged her.

-

Finally, at her fifteenth birthday, the King gave her a fantastic gift. It was a gift that he’d prepared for years, a gift that required a small fortune and tons of talented artists. It was a set of a hundred masks. The mask will cover her whole face, there is a mask for each of her emotions. Sadness, joy, apathy, and even jealousy. That way, the Princess would be able to cover her whole face while still not sacrificing her facial expressions.

The Princess accepted the gift happily and started wearing the masks all the time. But because of that, her attitude worsened, because she actually looked good with her mask. Her body was thin and willowy, her hair was shiny and cascaded down her waist. Her judgement turned mean and toxic, especially to people she considered below her. She gained notoriety because of her mean words and mean attitude, she no longer the quiet Princess.

-

One day, a letter of invitation came from the neighboring Kingdom. It was an invitation to a ball. The handsome prince from the neighboring kingdom was looking for a bride, and he invited every blue blooded women to come to his eighteen birthday party. Princes were also allowed to come to celebrate.